Poroshenko presses Putin to rein in Ukraine rebels

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Wednesday he had written a letter to Russia's Vladimir Putin demanding that Moscow rein in eastern separatist fighters in his war-torn ex-Soviet republic.

Poroshenko said his letter also requested that Russia release female Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, who claims she was abducted by pro-Russian fighters before being put in a Moscow prison and starting a hunger strike.

"On Monday, I sent a letter to President Putin whose main elements included not only the demand to cease fire and implement the Minsk Agreements but also to release Nadezhda (Nadia) Savchenko and all the hostages," the president's office quoted Poroshenko as saying.

A truce signed in September in the Belarussian capital Minsk quickly unravelled and has seen violence again approach the highest levels witnessed in the nine-month war.